Guide Dog on Veterans Day already thanked all who served and I belatedly second that, to those I don't even know, to my own father and to my grandfathers before him. I am grateful.

I wish I could single out and thank everyone who served, but here's one great American. I ran across this reading about the Fort Hood victims. This could be under rest in peace, but I just want to say I am grateful for amazing courage and service:------Sgt. Amy Krueger

Krueger, 29, of Kiel, Wis., joined the Army after the 2001 terrorist attacks and had vowed to take on Usama bin Laden, her mother, Jeri Krueger said.

Amy Krueger arrived at Fort Hood on Tuesday and was scheduled to be sent to Afghanistan in December, the mother told the Herald Times Reporter of Manitowoc.

Jeri Krueger recalled telling her daughter that she could not take on bin Laden by herself.

"Watch me," her daughter replied.

Kiel High School Principal Dario Talerico told The Associated Press that Krueger graduated from the school in 1998 and had spoken at least once to local elementary school students about her career.

"I just remember that Amy was a very good kid, who like most kids in a small town are just looking for what their next step in life was going to be and she chose the military," Talerico said. "Once she got into the military, she really connected with that kind of lifestyle and was really proud to serve her country."

Count Your Blessings"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." --Thomas PaineWe call the primary gathering place in our home "the warm room" because at its center hearth is a woodstove. This room is where we gather in the evening after the day's tasks and our family dinner.

This past Sunday night, my family surrounded me in our warm room, each of us doing something that we enjoy. I was reading, my wife was checking e-mail, my older son was bantering with my daughter, and my youngest son was assembling his latest Lego creation.

It was the first day of Thanksgiving week, but giving thanks was not really on my mind. I was content just to relax with my family after a good meal.

Then my cell phone chimed brusquely. I was piqued by the interruption, mostly in anticipation that when that phone rings on a Sunday night, there's usually something seriously wrong somewhere that requires my attention.

To my pleasant surprise, when I answered, a familiar voice, although faint due to the satellite connection, was on the other end. It was an Air Force friend stationed in Bagram, in the Parwan province of Afghanistan, calling to say hello and provide an update on his status.

Needless to say, he is far away from his family, who will be without him for Thanksgiving and probably Christmas. And yes, his call prompted immediate gratitude on my part for the casual and cozy evening that I was enjoying, with my family, in the comfort of our home.

The next morning, I returned from a meeting to my SUV, parked on a city street, and found in the dust between the Navy Jack on the rear window and the "Support Our Troops" magnet on the bumper, someone had scrawled, "World Peace!" I am quite sure that the author was misguidedly implying some contradiction between pride in our military forces and achievement of world peace.

Undoubtedly, the poor soul who soiled his pinkie to leave that message has never taken an oath to support and defend our Constitution, much less undertaken any action to that end at risk of personal injury or death. Thus, what this anonymous peacenik fails to realize is that nobody wants world peace more than our front-line soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines -- the very warriors fighting for that peace.

I am grateful for our uniformed Patriots, who, like my friend in Bagram, are defending liberty in places far away, so that we may live in peace at home, and I am grateful for their families, who bear a great burden with their loved one's absence.

But, as I contemplate our national day of Thanksgiving, beyond gratitude for my immediate blessings, I am greatly concerned about the trials that we, as a people, now face in the wake of this unprecedented assault upon our Constitution. For I am certain that the resulting collectivist government policies, left unchecked, will smother our free market system and our legacy of liberty.

You know the story of our First Thanksgiving, the three-day Pilgrim feast of 1621, after nearly half their company had died during the preceding winter. (I have posted an Account of the First Harvest Feast and Thanksgiving for those of you might like to read it to your families before the Thanksgiving meal.)

What you may not know, however, is that, in an effort to improve production at Plymouth Plantation, a collectivist policy was implemented in 1622 which almost destroyed the remainder of the settlement.

Plymouth Colony's governor, William Bradford, recorded in his history of the Colony that, to forestall another failed crop season, he would allot each family a plot of land, and mandate that "all profits & benefits that are got by trade, working, fishing, or any other means" must be forfeited to a common storehouse in order that "all such persons as are of this colony, are to have their meat, drink, apparel, and all provisions out of the common stock."

In theory, Bradford believed that this would be good for the Colony since each family would receive equal share of produce without regard to their contribution.

Unfortunately, then as now, collectivism works only in theory.

Bradford wrote that his plan failed because it undermined the incentive to produce, noting that it "was found to breed much confusion and discontent, and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort."

After the abysmal results in 1622, Bradford wrote that the Colony leaders contemplated "how they might raise as much corn as they could, and obtain a better crop."

They then decided to trade their collectivist plan for a free market approach, and in 1623, Bradford wrote, "This had very good success, for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been by any other means the Governor or any other could use. ... Instead of famine now God gave them plenty and the face of things was changed, to the rejoicing of the hearts of many. ... Any general want or famine hath not been amongst them since to this day."

As a direct consequence, the Colony celebrated a much greater Day of Thanksgiving in 1623.

The conclusion was obvious. Given liberty and incentive to be industrious, their Colony thrived. Indeed, by 1624, production was so abundant that the Colony exported corn back to England.

And for generations since, to the extent that men have been set at perfect liberty to establish free markets, to produce goods and services without having profits seized for redistribution, our nation has thrived.

Yet once again, our governors are contemplating collectivist policies of the sort that failed in 1622 and have failed many times since, giving credence to the aphorism, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

My fellow Patriots, never in the history of our country has there been such an acute, coordinated and vicious assault upon our rights and upon the structures established to protect those rights. From individuals, to state governments, to federal institutions initiated at the dawn of our Constitution, nothing -- absolutely nothing -- is sacred to the leftists currently controlling our nation's capital.

But take heart, for as George Washington wrote in the darkest days of our American Revolution, "We should never despair, our Situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth new Exertions and proportion our Efforts to the exigency of the times."

Of such exertions, Washington wrote, "It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors."

So it is that on Thanksgiving Day of this week, we are called upon to pause and take respite; to acknowledge the divine intervention of our Creator in the affairs of this great nation; to recommit ourselves to obeisance of His will; to express our gratitude and give Him all thanks and praise for the bounty which He has bestowed upon us.

We yet live in the land of the free, the home of the brave, that shining city on a hill, and for it, we humbly implore that He protect us and grant us much favor in our coming struggle to re-establish The Rule of Law over the rule of men.

So it is that on Thanksgiving Day of this week, we are called upon to pause and take respite; to acknowledge the divine intervention of our Creator in the affairs of this great nation; to recommit ourselves to obeisance of His will; to express our gratitude and give Him all thanks and praise for the bounty which He has bestowed upon us.

I will admit that these lines made me stop and reflect that for the most part, the Thanksgivings of my family have become quite secular. There is a great deal gratitude expressed, but our Creator is rarely credited. I need to spend some time thinking about this, as we will start our first Thanksgiving meal in a few hours, and then drive a ways to eat a later meal with extended family.

I'm a high school teacher, and the day before Thanksgiving (as I did yesterday) I show the following digital video every year in my classes. I'm sure many of you out there have probably seen it. it is a little heavy, but I don't think it has to define the tone of your Thanksgiving, just make you take a moment and reflect

I am grateful for the safe birth of my daughter in the summer. I'm grateful to have a job this year. When my wife recently called the paramedics in terrible pain, I'm grateful it turned out to only be kidney stones, which have since passed.

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

And here's one more-- this one has been running in the WSJ for 48 years now.

The Desolate Wilderness A chronicle of the Pilgrims' arrival at Plymouth, as recorded by Nathaniel Morton

Here beginneth the chronicle of those memorable circumstances of the year 1620, as recorded by Nathaniel Morton, keeper of the records of Plymouth Colony, based on the account of William Bradford, sometime governor thereof:

So they left that goodly and pleasant city of Leyden, which had been their resting-place for above eleven years, but they knew that they were pilgrims and strangers here below, and looked not much on these things, but lifted up their eyes to Heaven, their dearest country, where God hath prepared for them a city (Heb. XI, 16), and therein quieted their spirits.

When they came to Delfs-Haven they found the ship and all things ready, and such of their friends as could not come with them followed after them, and sundry came from Amsterdam to see them shipt, and to take their leaves of them. One night was spent with little sleep with the most, but with friendly entertainment and Christian discourse, and other real expressions of true Christian love.

View Full Image.The next day they went on board, and their friends with them, where truly doleful was the sight of that sad and mournful parting, to hear what sighs and sobs and prayers did sound amongst them; what tears did gush from every eye, and pithy speeches pierced each other's heart, that sundry of the Dutch strangers that stood on the Key as spectators could not refrain from tears. But the tide (which stays for no man) calling them away, that were thus loath to depart, their Reverend Pastor, falling down on his knees, and they all with him, with watery cheeks commended them with the most fervent prayers unto the Lord and His blessing; and then with mutual embraces and many tears they took their leaves one of another, which proved to be the last leave to many of them.

Being now passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before them in expectations, they had now no friends to welcome them, no inns to entertain or refresh them, no houses, or much less towns, to repair unto to seek for succour; and for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of the country know them to be sharp and violent, subject to cruel and fierce storms, dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search unknown coasts.

Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wilde beasts and wilde men? and what multitudes of them there were, they then knew not: for which way soever they turned their eyes (save upward to Heaven) they could have but little solace or content in respect of any outward object; for summer being ended, all things stand in appearance with a weatherbeaten face, and the whole country, full of woods and thickets, represented a wild and savage hew.

If they looked behind them, there was a mighty ocean which they had passed, and was now as a main bar or gulph to separate them from all the civil parts of the world.

Gratful for the article on my school that appeared front page of "The Golden Eagle" Naval paper. The article was front page shared with one on the MCPON (Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy) and General Petraeus... One heck of a trifecta

Gratful for the high spirit of my students last night and their heart to keep going...

Gratful to have a new short term goal... Conditioning for the April Gathering

I posted that before things really got bad. I was diagnosed with the flu, and Pneumonia on Monday night, so I've been living at my folks' house in an effort to keep my four month old healthy. I'm grateful for my parents, who insisted on taking me to urgent care the moment they heard I had a high temperature. This thing (which is going away) might be a lot deeper in my lungs if they hadn't acted. I'm bummed to be missing my little girl's first X-mas eve, and day, but I'm grateful that I'm not much more sick.

Grateful to share an outdoor experience with my 11-yr old son during his first deer hunt and kill in Louisiana on Chirstmas Eve.

I'm reminded of the classic line, "I have never been happier, more exhilirated, at peace, rested, inspired, and aware of the grandeur of the universe and the greatness of God than when I find myself in a natural setting not much changed from the way He made it " ~ Jimmy C.